Fire-alarm



(No Model.)

B. A. WRIGHT.

FIRE ALARM.

No. 520,348. Patented May 22, 1894.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ELMER A. WRIGHT, on MONROVIA, CALIFORNIA.

FIRE-ALARM.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 520,348, dated May 22,1894.

Application filed November 23, 1893. Serial No. 491,785. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ELMER A. WRIGHT, residing at Monrovia, in the countyof Los Angeles and State of California, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in Fire-Alarms, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates more especially to automatic fire alarm systems forbuildings, and it has for its object to provide a simple and inexpensivealarm system of this kind which will effectively and positively operateto give the alarm in all parts of the building, when a fire occurs inany room or portion thereof, and whereby the alarm can also betransmitted to the fire or police station.

To these ends my invention consists in such peculiar combination andnovel arrangement of parts as will hereinafter be first described indetail and then be particularly pointed out in the claims, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a planview indicating the arrangement of the several parts of my automaticalarm mechanism as applied for use in a dwelling or small building. Fig.2 is a similar view showing the arrangement of the several parts whenapplied for use in a large building. Fig. 3 is a detail view of one ofthe coupling members hereinafter referred to, and Fig. 3 is a similarview of the coupling members detached. Fig. 4 illustrates a bell holdingbox adapted to be used in connection with the operating wires.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, it will be noticed in Fig. 1, Ihave shown a diagrammatic representation of a dwelling, in which A, B,O, and D represent different rooms, in each of which is disposed analarm bell E, which may be of any well known construction, butpreferably, however, one in which is employed a tripper arm capable ofsetting in operation the hell by movements in reverse direction, such,for instance, as shown, in which F indicates the tripper arm,

pivoted at f and projected beyond the bell and formed with a forkedmember f.

G indicates a main operating wire which may be disposed outside thebuilding or extended down into a cellar, to be connected with a tensiondevice H which may be in the nature of a weighted lever arm H, hinged toa post at one end h, and provided with an adjusting weight h as shown infull lines in the drawings; or it may be in the nature of a coiledspring J, shown in dotted lines which has an adjusting screw I wherebythe tension thereof can be regulated. The main wire passes into thebuilding through a tubular metallic guard K at one side and connectswith the opposite ends of a house wire L or cable, which passes throughthe several rooms A, B, O and D, in close proximity to the annunciatorbells, itpassing through guards K in the different partition walls; andat the end of the building opposite its entrance such wire is passedover a guide and supporting pulley M.

It will be noticed that in each room the wire proper is separated as atZ, and that the separated ends terminate in hook like portions Z Z,which ends are connected bya connecting member N formed with a fusiblelock portion, whereby it will be automaticallyunlockedorbedisconnectedbytheheat. Theconnecting members N are eachformed of a gun shaped base portion N provided at one end with anaperture n and at the opposite end with an apertured guide 77., and onsuch base N is held the lock member proper N which is somewhat shorterthan the base N, and has at one end a finger portion n and a lug n italso having a series of apertures a.

To set the several parts in an operative conditiom'the ends of theseveral wire sections in each room are connected by the members N byhooking them to the said members, as shown most clearly in Fig. 3, byreference to which it will be seen that the front end L of the wire Lpasses rearward and hooks into one of the apertures 71 in the shortmember N while the other end L connects with aperture n in the longmember N. member N is then moved in the direction of the guide n'unt'ilits finger 71. passes into it, its outward movement being limited by thelug n whereby a short lock or restraining member is provided, andwhereby a quicker disconnection of the parts can be attained, as willpresently appear. After the said members N N have been adjusted asdescribed, a stop 0 of wax or other fusible material is secured on thelonger member in front of the, free end of the short member, which willnor The short mally hold such members to their locked position, andagainst the tension devices. The tension on the weighted arm or springis then adjusted to keep the main and house wires to a taut conditionand such adjustment may be varied to suit any temperature, by fasteningthe end L of the wire into the diiferent apertures 02 and by adjustingthe weight on the lever H.

It will be noticed by reference to Fig. 1 the house wires are held topass between the forks of the arms f and at each side thereof the wireshave tappets Z 1 whereby the movement of the wire in either directionwill serve to operate on the trigger arms to set the bells in operation.

It will be manifestly understood from the drawings, that should a fireoccur in room D the heat would melt the stop 0 and thereby unlock themembers N N and asthey are thus released the counterweight on the arm Jwill draw on the freed ends of the house wire and pull such wires in thedirection indicated by the arrows and thereby set in operation the bellsin all the rooms A, B, O and D. If desired a cable J X can be connectedto the weighted arm H, passed over a pulley and carried to a fire orpolice station; or it can be connected with a contact maker in anelectrically operated fire alarm.

When my improved devices are to be applied to a very large building,where it would be impracticable to use a single operating cord as shownin Fig. l,I provide a series of house wires one end of which connectswith the main wire, while the other ends have guides or rollers S whichengage a supplemental wire P having a series of fixed guides 13 1),arranged-at each side of the rollers S, whereby loop portions P areformed. By this arrangement it will be seen that should any one of theconnections in one of the house wires be burned out, the tension deviceswould serve to pull on the main wire and in so doing, it, the main wirewill also draw upon the inner member of the other non separated wire orwires, and in thus pulling on it or them, they pull upon the looped wireP and draw it in a direction to its point of connection, thereby pullingthe other loop portions taut and in consequence draw upon the otherhouse wires including the separated one, and as the several wires arethus moved it follows that all the bells will be put into operation.

From the foregoing description taken in connection with the drawings thecomplete operation of my improvements will be readily understood. Thesame provides a simple and inexpensive means for automatically ringingan alarm in all the rooms, such means being entirely mechanical, noelectrical devices such as are usually employed in connection with suchalarm mechanisms being employed.

Instead of operating the annunciator bells direct as before stated theymay be incased in a box T which mayhave a spring actuated doort see Fig.4:, the closing of which will normally hold the bells to their quietposition and which when opened will serve to release the hammer holdingdevices to allow the bell to ring. In the use of such box, the door isprovided with a lug t with which enagages a pivoted tripper arm F theforked free end of which receives the operating wire and is operatedthereby the same as tripper F in the other construction. It is alsoobvious that the main wire can be set on the outside of the building, orin the cellar as most convenient, and the house wire may be fastened tothe chimneys and the roof.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secureby Letters Patent, is

l. A fire alarm mechanism or system for buildings, comprising a singlehouse wire passed through a number of rooms in one direction, thenlooped and extendedin a reverse direction, a fixed guide for such loopedend, said wire passed through one or more rooms as it passes in areverse direction, a single tension device connected with the ends ofsuch looped wire, to normally keep it taut, fusible joints in the wire,and alarm devices connected with and adapted to be operated by theseparation of the wire, located in the several rooms, all arrangedsubstantially as shown, whereby as any one of the fusible joints isseparated, the tension device will serve to draw on both of theseparated wire sections and thereby operate all the alarms connectedtherewith as set forth.

2. A fire alarm mechanism or system for dwellings comprising. aplurality of house wires, each of which consists of a loop member passedthrough one or more rooms, a fixed or loop guide for same at one end ofthe building, a tension device having a single pull member, connected toone end of each of the house wire sections, a supplemental wire havingfixed connections at its ends and intermediate guides to form loopportions, each of such loop sections being connected with the free endof one of the house wire sections, said house wire sections having eacha series of fusible joints, and alarm mechanism connected with andadapted to be all operated by the separation of any one of the housewires, as set forth.

3. In an automatic fire alarm mechanism substantially as described, thecombination with the main wire G having an adjustable tension H,connected therewith, the house wire L having cut outs and formed in aloop, the support or guide M therefor, the bells having pivoted triggermembers and the tappets on the house wire, of the connecting members N,formed each of a base member N and a shorter memberN said memberN'having an aperture n at one end, and a loop or guide at the other, themember N havinga finger and shoulder at one end adapted to engage suchloop, and apertures n at such end, and the fusible plug or stop 0secured to the lower IIO supplemental wire, a tension device connectedto the main wire, said wire having a series of fusible joints, andtappets, and alarm bells, having oscillating trigger arms projected be-I5 tween such tappets to be operated thereby all substantially as shownand for the purposes described. ELMER A. WRIGHT. Witnesses: 1

WM. J. RooKwoon, O. A. WHEELER.

